Wait, what, three stars? Yup. This book was genuinely enjoyable, unlike most of the books minus the beginning. Either I'm inured to the author's tone or it's lighter in this book, the entire work doesn't feel like an exercise in futility, and Sunny is actually treated like a character.

The narrator still does that annoying "I'm going to weirdly define 'big' words for you," thing, but for the most part, the narrator doesn't feel smug and impressed with himself. Instead, he seems genuinely saddened, which is interesting, considering probably the least amount of terrible things happens in this one. In fact, things finally feel like they're moving forward.

Things also aren't as... strange as they could be, which in other books has kind of felt forced. Sure, there's a fair share of just plain weird going on in this book, but it feels more natural. It also felt like less of a focus point. The focus is on the plot progression and spoilers.

But perhaps what made me the happiest in this book was characterization. Sunny, the youngest Baudelaire, has managed to grow up a bit. She's no longer treated as a glorified sack of potatoes with teeth. She was given a bit of interest in the last book, but this book actually made it into something real.

Anyway, this has certainly made me actually wonder if this series just peaks at the end and sags in the middle. I certainly hope so.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Blogger

A life-long avid reader, especially of speculative fiction, Ryan usually has a book lying around somewhere. The child of an English PhD, he also has strong opinions scattered about. As his physical disability made it more and more difficult to partake in other forms of leisure, his childhood predilection for prose once again began to consume his life.